HOUSE BILL 177

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2020

INTRODUCED BY

Andrea Romero

 

 

 

 

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC EDUCATION; CREATING A REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP SCHOOL DEMONSTRATION PROJECT; CREATING A FUND; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. A new section of the Public School Code is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP SCHOOL DEMONSTRATION PROJECT CREATED--REPORTING AND EVALUATION--FUND CREATED.--

          A. The "regional partnership school demonstration project" is created as a five-school-year demonstration project involving a partnership between the Pojoaque Valley public school district, New Mexico highlands university school of education and Los Alamos national laboratory. The purpose of the project is to demonstrate that:

                (1) establishing teacher preparation clinical residency programs will ensure that beginning teachers are prepared for the rigors of classroom teaching and will help retain teachers who want to make a long-term commitment to public education;

                (2) providing intensive informal and formal professional development for classroom teachers will improve teaching quality and mitigate teacher burn-out;

                (3) providing extended learning time, particularly in mathematics and language arts, through after-school and summer programs will instill core subject skills, improve learning habits and strategies and mitigate the educational loss that normally occurs over summer vacation; and

                (4) providing supports for parents and families of students will not only support student achievement, but is expected to foster a cultural shift toward valuing education not just within a family, but within the community.

          B. The demonstration project partners shall submit project design and implementation plans to the department for its review. The project shall include:

                (1) a teacher residency program open to school of education students in any grades and subjects;

                (2) concentration of the integrated, coordinated professional development component of the project on teachers in grades four through eight, though other grades may be included if funding allows;

                (3) extended learning for students that includes after-school and summer programming; and

                (4) parental and familial engagement in student education.

          C. Students participating in the demonstration project shall be evaluated at the beginning of the project and their progress shall be evaluated each year, which shall include both quantitative and qualitative indicators of improvement. The project shall include a study of the effect of the demonstration project on the school district as a whole.

          D. The pre-service clinical teacher residency program may include tuition scholarships and residency stipends for participating teaching students, training and stipends for teacher mentors and instructional materials. The professional development program may include salaries for instructional coaches; substitute teachers; funds for experts to lead summer and school-year professional development sessions; per diem and mileage for off-site professional development attendees, if necessary; and instructional materials. The extended learning program may include stipends for teachers working beyond their regular school-year contracts to plan, prepare and implement month-long mindset math summer camps and other topical summer camps; after-school core subject development sessions; and student transportation, if necessary, and instructional materials and supplies.

          E. The demonstration project shall include external evaluation of the project over the life of the project. Periodic reports shall be provided to the department and the legislature, and a final report shall be provided to the department, the governor and the legislature.

          F. The "regional partnership school demonstration project fund" is created as a nonreverting fund in the state treasury during the life of the demonstration project. The fund consists of appropriations, gifts, grants and donations and any other money credited to the fund. The fund shall be administered by the department of finance and administration. Money in the fund is appropriated to the department of finance and administration and shall be expended to pay the expenses of the demonstration project, subject to limitations of the appropriation. Expenditures from the fund shall be on warrant of the secretary of finance and administration pursuant to vouchers signed by the superintendent of the Pojoaque Valley public school district or the superintendent's authorized representative. Money remaining in the fund at the end of fiscal year 2025 shall revert to the general fund."

     SECTION 2. APPROPRIATION.--Three million three hundred thirty-five thousand dollars ($3,335,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the regional partnership school demonstration project fund for expenditure in fiscal years 2020 through 2025 to design, implement and evaluate the regional partnership school demonstration project. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2025 shall revert to the general fund.

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